David Haye training partner handed doping ban

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT Joe Fournier, a nightclub owner who is close friends with David Haye, has been suspended for 18 months by a Belgian National Anti-Doping Organisation, NADO Flanders, following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV).

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) announced the news earlier today, confirming that on 25 June 2016, an in-competition test was conducted by NADO Flanders after a boxing match in Ninove, Belgium.

“Fournier subsequently tested positive for sibutramine, a weight-loss agent, and was charged with an ADRV pursuant to article 2.1 of the World Anti-Doping Code – ‘Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an Athlete’s Sample,'” UKAD’s statement read.

Fournier’s ban runs from 6 December 2016 until midnight on 5 June 2018.

After initially questioning the testing methods, Fournier stated that the banned substance entered his system when he took a supplement named ‘Perfect Shape’ which had been given to him by his trainer, Dino Spencer, according to UKAD’s report. The box that contained the capsules did not list sibutramine, while it did list other substances that were in the supplement.

UKAD’s report states that tests on the supplement showed that it “contains, among others, the prohibited substance sibutramine.”

The 34-year-old has only fought in the UK once, when he stopped journeyman Bela Juhasz in two rounds on the undercard of David Haye’s fight against Arnold Gjergjaj in May 2016, one month before he fought in Belgium and failed a drugs test.

He has fought four times since that win in Belgium, every outing taking place in the Dominican Republic.

He has trained alongside Haye, specifically in Miami, since David’s return to the ring and accompanied the former two-weight king to Germany to see a specialist [pictured above] a few days before his fight with Tony Bellew.

He has even called Bellew out on occasion, as well as super-middleweight Callum Smith.